Dizzy joins the Icicles

In the 1980’s, VHS beat Betamax. Just a couple of weeks ago, Bluray was victorious over HD-DVD. Who will be the winner between the IPL and the ICL? One thing that has become clear this week is that the Indian Cricket League is not ready to roll over and die… yet.

Not content with picking up the crumbs of recently-retired Test cricketers, the Icicle seems to be either pouncing on players as soon as they retire, or maybe coaxing them into “retirement”.

Today, Jason Gillespie, the only Australian batsman to score a Test double-hundred against Bangladesh, announced that he is retiring from first-class cricket in Australia at the conclusion of the current Pura Cup game between South Australia and Queensland.

It might have been the disappointment that this August’s home series against Bangladesh has been postponed to 2010, but more likely it had something to do with that other snippet of information that the Dizmeister left unsaid in his “retirement” announcement today.

Sportal reports that Gillespie has signed a three-year contract to play for the ICL (that’s not the mob that run the cattle auctions and call it the “free market”).

However, Glamorgan Cricket reported on their website just last Sunday that Gillespie will be playing county cricket for them in 2008, and that he will be available from the start of the season. It’s possible, though, that there will be no overlap between his committments for Glamorgan and the Icicles, if the Icicle website calendar is anything to go by.

No announcement yet from the Icicles regarding Gillespie, though they did announce earlier this week the signings of two other recently “retired” washed-up Australians, namely Mike Kasprowicz and Matthew Elliott.